


Cynophobia

by esmerelda_t



Series: A Lot of What it Takes To Get By [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Jessica Jones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 06:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19806199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esmerelda_t/pseuds/esmerelda_t
Summary: The need for space, for the dogs, and a low profile, for Frank, had taken Karen to Staten Island several years earlier.Or why you should never travel further from home than is feasible to walk back to see an ex. Who's dogs you hate and is still friends with your mother.





	Cynophobia

**Author's Note:**

> Set around a year after events of chapter 1 of A Lot of What It Takes to Get By.

Matt is curious if Christopher really thinks he’s fooling him, as they sit opposite each other in a local diner on 10th. Christopher is pushing omelette around his plate while the only food actually being consumed is the fries. He puts his coffee down and says sternly, “C’mon, buddy, we had a deal. You could have fries but you had to eat all the omelette, you can’t just eat the fries and then be too full for the part of the meal with any nutritional value.” Christopher pauses, fry midway to mouth, he seems to be considering the matter, “I don’t want to eat too much, what if Auntie Karen has made lunch and I’m too full?”

Matt’s not falling for it, “Your mom told Auntie Karen that she didn’t need to worry about having anything for your lunch, that we were going to have brunch before we headed over there and a snack for you would be fine. Do you want Auntie Karen to feel bad because you’re hungry and she doesn’t have anything you’ll eat?” Christopher grumbles, “No.” Spears a bit of the omelette reluctantly, Matt smiles encouragingly at him, “Just eat as much as you can, okay?” Christopher mumbles okay back through a mouthful of food.

~

After brunch, Matt conceded defeat with three quarters of the omelette eaten, they head up to Columbus to get the Subway down to the ferry for Staten Island. Both he and Jessica had been taken aback when earlier in the week Christopher had declared he wanted to see Roxy and Velma, Frank and Karen's dogs. Their gentle reminder that the dogs lived with Karen, who Christopher hadn’t been around since the kidnapping, had been met with an exasperated, “I _know_ who they live with, I’m not _stupid_.” Matt asks, trying to keep it casual, as they approach the station, “So looking forward to seeing Auntie Karen?” He’s looking for a sign, a quickening heartbeat but there’s nothing, “Sure, what sort of snacks do you think she’ll have?” Matt sighs, “Hopefully not fries.” He ignores Christopher’s indignant “I like fries!”

~

The need for space, for the dogs, and a low profile, for Frank, had taken Karen to Staten Island several years earlier. It’s a freezing cold day so it’s a relief that Christopher is happy to sit downstairs rather then up on the deck. He broaches the subject of Karen again, deciding just to spit it out, because he really doesn’t want either Christopher or Karen to go through Christopher having a meltdown at the sight of her, “So….you’ve not seen Auntie Karen for a while…you’re not mad at her?” Christopher turns and sounds confused, “Why would I be mad at her?” Matt sighs but before he can think of a suitable answer Christopher suddenly realises, “Oh, you think I’m mad she let Kilgrave take me? I know that wasn’t her fault. Dani said that it wasn’t really _her_ , that Luke explained about the time Kilgrave controlled him, that it was like his body was a cab and he was in the backseat and Kilgrave was driving and no matter how much he yelled at him to stop and banged on the window there was nothing he could do. Dani said _she’d_ just smash the window but it wasn’t fair to be mad at people who couldn’t do that.” Christopher slides his hand into Matt’s and continues, “Are you scared? Of Roxy and Velma?” Matt splutters, “What? No!” Christopher grips his hand tighter, “Don’t worry, Daddy, they’re good dogs, Uncle Frank says all dogs are good dogs, it’s just sometimes the people who are meant to take care of them are bad, and I think that’s true.” Matt just snorts, dogs is just another one of the many things he and Frank disagree on. Thinking they’re gross is not the same as being scared by them, at all.

~

They’re walking down the street to Karen and Frank’s house when Christopher comments, “Do you think it’ll snow?” Matt scrunches his face, “It wasn’t meant to but now you mention it, buddy yeah I think it might.” As they get closer to Karen’s Christopher pulls him forward, they’re a door down when Karen’s own door opens, there’s a cacophony of barking and Christopher pulls free from Matt, squeals, “Roxy! Velma!” and bolts for the dogs. On contact both dogs launch themselves at Christopher who seems delighted while Matt grimaces. As he approaches their attention momentarily turn to Matt but Karen whistles, “No jumping on Uncle Matt, girls, he doesn’t like it.” Matt smiles gratefully at her.

~

Christopher and the dogs are in the backyard. Matt’s sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea, asks, “So Frank’s not around today?” Karen puts her cup back on the table, “No he’s been gone most of the week, he’s due back Wednesday.” Matt doesn’t ask where Frank is and Karen doesn’t offer any further information. She does say, “It’s really nice to see you both.” Matt nods, “I’m sorry I haven’t joined you and Foggy that past few times you’ve caught up, it’s just….”

Karen shakes her head, “It’s fine, I understand…Jess….Jess was okay with you bringing Christopher out here?” Matt sighs, “Yeah, she really doesn’t blame you, neither of us do, you know that right? It’s just been a shitty year and it’s been hard to keep up with everyone. I’m sorry if you felt it was personal.” Karen exhales, “It’s really fine. How’s Dani? Foggy says she sees a lot of Luke now?”

Matt’s not sure if Karen is trying to figure out if Matt’s okay with that or not, he is, mostly. “Yeah, Luke’s been a godsend actually. He’s really helped out a lot, he’s even taken both the kids a few times as Jess and I were both behind on cases and Christopher feels safe with him so it’s not so much of a worry. Dani really likes spending time with him and it’s taken a lot of the pressure of Jess and me, given how much support Christopher’s needed the past year. We’re trying to do more things with all five of us though, it’s important she feels Luke is part of our family now, rather than worrying she’s being excluded.”

Karen picks up one of the cookies she’d put out and snaps it in two, “I’m glad it’s working out, and has she met her Uncle Danny yet?” Karen’s amused tone indicates she knows the answer, Matt can’t resist smirking, “Oh yeah, Luke had to stop him buying her a car, I have no idea what he thought she was going to do with it. He was really excited and happy to finally meet her. Jess grudgingly let him take Dani shopping, she’s got more silk now than I do.” Karen laughs, “It must be like having a fairy godfather, when you’re billionaire uncle comes to town.” She suddenly turns towards the window, “Oh, it’s snowing!” Matt sighs, “Yeah we thought it might on our way over, it’s cold enough for it.” He stands and crosses to the backdoor, calls out, “Hey, buddy, you want to come in?” Karen joins him to add, “I’ve got some fruit and yoghurt and maybe we could have hot chocolate afterwards?” She claps her hands and the dogs come trotting over, Christopher follows in their wake. When he reaches the kitchen table and leans over for a cookie Matt can’t help the shrillness of his voice, “Don’t touch any food before you wash your hands! Not when you’ve been touching animals!” Karen snorts as she comes back in from the laundry room with a pungent towel that’s clearly used for the dogs, says to Christopher, “You remember where the bathroom is, honey?”

Christopher slides past him on the way, “Yes, Auntie Karen.” Matt offers to put together a bowl of fruit and yoghurt for Christopher himself, as Karen is now touching the dogs and he’s pretty sure one of them is licking her face. When she’s finished drying the dogs off she stands and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll wash my hands before I make the hot chocolate. Matt’s grimaced, “Wash your face too” turns into a grin as she flips him the finger before departing the kitchen.

~

Matt frowns towards the window as they finish their hot chocolate, “It’s really coming down, huh?” Christopher is licking chocolate foam from his lips, “Everything is muffled outside, it’s nice and quiet isn’t it, Daddy?” Matt hums in vague agreement as Karen picks up her phone, she makes a small disgruntled sound as she checks something, “Urgh, they’ve cancelled the ferry for the rest of the day.” Matt groans, “This is why I never leave Manhattan.” His phone jumps to life on the table, buzzing with, “Jess, Jess, Jess.” Matt picks it up, “Hi, sweetheart”

The agitation in Jessica’s voice is immediately apparent, “Are you still at Karen’s? The news said they’ve taken the ferry off because of the weather.” Matt sighs, “Yeah we’re still here, we just heard, but we’ll just take a ca…” He’s taken aback by the vehemence of Jess’s, “No! I don’t want you both in a car, not in this weather!” She offers, “I could come and get you?” Matt can feel his eyebrows literally raise, “What? Hop, skip and jump from Staten Island to Hell’s Kitchen? Carrying both of us? Really?” He’s probably turning green at the thought, Jess has jumped with him a handful of times out of necessity but it wasn’t something he’d ever volunteer to do. Karen clears her throat and Matt turns towards her, she says, “Why don’t you both just stay here tonight?” Christopher, who’d appeared fairly disinterested up until this point, says warily, “Stay here? Without Mommy?”

Christopher and Jess haven’t spent a night apart since they got him back, in fact apart from a handful of times Christopher fell asleep watching TV in bed with Dani he’s slept in beside them as they couldn’t get him to settle in his own room. Jess is silent on the phone before quietly saying, “I could come there? Dani is at Luke’s tonight.” She _could_ but, “Jess, it’s 30 odd miles in freezing, wet, conditions, it’s not safe, what if you slip and fall?” Jessica continues not to speak so Matt quietly adds, “This had to happen sooner or later, and at least I’m with him? He could have gotten stuck somewhere overnight without either of us.” Jessica finally sighs, conceding defeat, “Okay.” 

~

Dinner is stressful. Christopher is fussy on a normal day and the anxiety of the upcoming night without his mom is making it worse. Matt suspects his own anxiety about the upcoming night isn’t helping and he tries to force himself to calm down. Between them he and Karen cobble something together but it’s Karen who gets most of the meal into Christopher, making it into a game. The three of them watch a movie afterwards and then Karen lends him a t-shirt for Christopher to sleep in. Karen had offered both of them her bed but Matt felt weird about sleeping in her and Frank’s bed, even if he didn’t relish the through of a lumpy sofa bed, a squirming child and the smelly dog Christopher guilt tripped him into agreeing to let sleep at the end of the bed, Velma he thinks it is. He stays perched on the bed until Christopher is asleep, which doesn’t take as long as Matt thought it would making Matt less irate at Velma’s seemingly soothing presence. He re-joins Karen, he can hear the clink of a wine bottle and she asks, “You want a glass?” Matt answers with a “God, yes.” She puts on another movie but Matt doesn’t really pay attention, after a while she asks, “Are you wanting to continue with this or will I turn it off?” Matt shakes his head, “Sorry, yeah if you’re not enjoying it, it’s fine.” She says, “It’s weird, isn’t it? Us being here like this? Surreal.” Matt nods, “Yeah, I just keep thinking, here we are in the suburbs, with the dogs I didn’t want and the kid you didn’t want,” Karen makes a small sound at that and Matt rushes to say, “Sorry, I didn’t mean…that was an asshole thing to say.” Karen’s voice is lighter than he expected when she says, “I know you love Roxy and Velma really.” Matt smiles but Karen’s tone becomes serious, “Dani and Christopher are great kids, I love being their auntie, but kids of my own…it just isn’t for me. You know that right? That it wasn’t about you? I always knew you’d be a great father, and see, I’ve been proven right.” Matt offers a tight smile in her direction. The kids issue wasn’t the reason they’d broken up, in fact it hadn’t even made the top ten. Granted Matt’s dislike of dogs might have made Karen’s top ten. Karen’s takes a sip of her wine and asks in a tone that immediately sets of alarm bells for Matt, “So, I saw Maggie last week.”

Matt’s jaw tightens and he gets out an ‘”Oh.” He should probably see where this is going before he says anything he regrets. Maggie and Karen had remained close even after Matt and Karen split. Matt didn’t mind that in itself, what he did mind was that Maggie had never liked Jessica, had been dismissive and antagonistic towards her from the start. Jessica’s total indifference over it, she didn’t give a shit if Maggie liked her or not, was the only thing stopping Matt making a bigger deal of it himself. Karen continues cautiously, “She says…you’ve not been by for a while? You even skipped the children’s mass at Christmas? She said she really missed seeing the kids.”

Matt bristles, “She can see the kids whenever she likes, she has our address, but you know Maggie, walking a handful of blocks to visit kids she claims to care about has never been her strong point.” Karen tenses at that, “Matt, that’s not fair, you know it’s not that easy for her. She said she thought she’d offended you, last time she saw you.” Matt nods, “Yeah, well, you’ll need to forgive me if I’m not prepared to listen to the woman who let me think I was an orphan for 25 years criticise my wife and I’s parenting.” Karen sighs, “She just wanted to help, Christopher is her grandson, she loves him, just like she loves you. You should go see her, she gets that her particular brand of nun sass isn’t always appropriate.”

Matt shrugs in response, really not wanting to take about it anymore, Karen exhales, “Okay, well, I said I’d talk to you and talk we have, ball’s in your court now.”

~

They go to their respective beds soon after. Matt gingerly gets into bed, wearing sweats belonging to Frank, beside Christopher to a chorus of snorts and sniffs coming from the end of the bed, which is nowhere near as bad as the smell. He’s no idea how Christopher can stand it, can let something that smells that bad _lick_ him. Matt wrinkles his nose and tries to concentrate on Christopher instead, his heart is steady and his breathing deep, sound asleep. It’s going to be a long night.

Matt must eventually drift off as he jolts awake at the first bark from the edge of the bed, it’s soon echoed by Roxy from elsewhere, probably Karen’s room. Matt’s first thought is _shit_ , the weather is perfect cover if any of the Punisher’s enemies, or any one of the many people Karen has pissed off over the years, decides to call in. He’s trying to figure out if there’s anything in the room he can use as a weapon and is about to wake Christopher to tell him to get under the bed and stay there when Christopher jolts awake beside him with an “Oh”” He turns to Matt excitedly and says, “It’s Mommy!” Matt takes a moment to stop panicking, focus, and realises, rather sheepishly, that Christopher is right.

He feels for his watch as Christopher and Velma scamper from the room. It’s 5.15am. When Matt reaches the front door Karen is already there undoing the deadbolts, Matt can smell the shotgun she’s put down, clearly initially reacting the same way he did. Once the door is open Christopher jumps and is easily caught, “Hi, Mommy!” Jessica hugs him tightly, kisses his cheek, “Good morning, sunshine.” She addresses Matt and Karen, “I brought a change of clothes, and some stuff for Christopher’s breakfast, wasn’t sure what you had.” Karen goes forward to take the bag Jessica is carrying, “We’re low, thanks, Frank does the grocery shopping usually so when he’s gone I’m basically a meal away from fighting the girls for their food. I’ll put this in the refrigerator. Then I’m going back to bed.” As Karen departs for the kitchen Christopher yawns and Matt gestures back to Karen’s office and the sofa bed, “You want to nap for a couple or hours with us? It’s early.” Jessica moves to follow him through and when Christopher addresses the dog to follow says to him firmly, “Honey, you know Daddy doesn’t like dogs. It’s not fair to make him sleep in the same room as one just because he’s too soft and squishy on the inside to say no to you.” Christopher mumbles, “Sorry” and Matt thinks he hears Jessica give Christopher a slight squeeze that’s part reassuring and part prompting him to try again, he says more clearly, “Sorry, Daddy.” Matt nods at him in acknowledgement, “Thanks, buddy.”

On entering the office Jessica deposits Christopher on the bed and removes her boots, strips out of her jeans and sweater. Matt gets in to the bed after her and by the time he does Christopher is already asleep again. Matt curls up at her back and asks, “You sleep at all last night?” She shakes her head, “Nah, too weird without you, your snoring is like my white noise machine.” He smiles into her neck, “You always say the nicest things.” She nudges back into his ribcage gently, ensuring she doesn’t actually crack anything. Matt asks quietly, as she’s drowsy and he might get an answer instead of a smart ass remark, “Karen lectured me on being nicer to Maggie, do you think I should go see her?” Jessica half groans, half yawns, “Urgh, you know I’m the last person in the world to be giving how to deal with your mom advice, can’t you just hold off a few years and start asking Dani her advice on this sort of thing? She’s got an awesome mom, wise and perfect.” She twists round and Matt feels a hand come up to his face, “If you feel bad about not visiting her, go visit her, if you always feel worse when you do visit then don’t. It’s as simple as that.” Before Matt can reply Christopher stirs, turns towards them and mutters, “but I don’t want to be a strawberry.” Jessica makes a noise through her nose and Matt’s not sure if she’s amused or exasperated, she turns away from Matt and reaches for Christopher, pulling him to her, “Don’t worry baby, no one’s going to make you be a strawberry, I won’t let them.” Christopher is soon sound asleep again curled against Jessica and Matt closes his eyes in the hope he’ll soon follow.

~

Matt’s apprehension only worsens as they approach St Agnes. Dani and Christopher are talking about some TV show they watch but they could be conspiring over what old folks home to send him to for all the attention Matt’s really paying. They recapture his attention when Christopher suddenly tugs on his hand, “Daddy, why is your heart racing?” Christopher looks around optimistically, “Oh is there a dog nearby?” Matt decides it’s much easier to just go with that, “I thought there was, a big one, probably feral, but’s it’s fine.” Dani snorts and even though he can’t see it, he’s sure she’s rolling her eyes, a gesture he knows Jessica frequently indulges in and one people have increasingly been pointing out Dani is prone to.

They reach the steps of St Agnes moments later, they’re nominally there to drop off a load of children’s clothes that have been outgrown. Matt explains this to the nun who opens the door for them before stuttering out, “Um..Ma…Sister Maggie? Is she here?” Matt winces when Christopher pipes up with, “She’s our grandma.” The nun though just leans down to speak directly to him, “I know, you’re Christopher and this is your sister Danielle, right? Sister Maggie is always talking about the two of you and showing us photos.” Matt forgets sometimes that he’s not Maggie’s sordid secret anymore, most people know and some of them who’ve lived in the kitchen long enough knew before Matt did.

The nun opens the door wide and gestures for them to come in.


End file.
